This invention relates to the video game art. Specifically apparatus for providing a top and bottom rebound function in a game which simulates hockey, tennis, handball or the like is provided.
Electronic games which generate signals to be used in conjunction with a television receiver are well known in the art and are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,659,284 and 3,659,285. The electronic game apparatus described by these references provides for an electronically simulated playing field, players, and game object to be displayed on a home television receiver. Operator controls are provided which allow player participants to manipulate spots on the screen of the television receiver to simulate field position and/or game objects. In one well-known game, a game object moves horizontally across the screen of the television receiver and each participant attempts to intercept the game object as it enters the participant's side of the playing field. When a participant successfully brings a game marker into contact with a moving target, the target reverses direction and it is an object of the game for the remaining participant to intercept the object as it enters the other side of the playing field. In this way, tennis or ping-pong may be simulated on a home television receiver.
In the aforementioned references, a simulated hockey game which is played on a television receiver screen is described. Such a game requires rebound circuitry so that the game object marker, simulating a puck, would rebound when striking either the upper or the lower boundaries on the television receiver screen. The aforementioned references describe rebound circuitry which operates by detecting the presence of the game object marker at an upper and lower boundary marker. When this detection is realized, the polarity of the target generator vertical control voltage is reversed, forcing the game object marker to move away from the boundary. The game object marker continues at the same velocity after rebounding as was attained during incidence.